Glaciers

10 July – Tuesday

Today it was MOUNTAINS – big mountains and lots of them. The scenery is just breathtaking – I never would have believed there could be so many glaciers in one small area. At one time we stopped the car and could see five! The roads are excellent, very wide and straight, although the signposting could be better. Lake Louise was not signposted at all and we had to do a bit of backtracking, but it was certainly worth the effort. The lake wasn’t as big as the impression we get from television, but very, very beautiful, and the people! So many of them!

All the lakes are a beautiful milky blue or aqua colour, as are the rivers. Probably the highlight of the day was a trip onto a glacier in specially built buses. We actually drove out onto the middle of the glacier and could get out and walk around. One had to be careful, it was a little bit slippery but quite wet and it was easy to step through the ice into water.

The wildlife deserves a mention – today we have seen white tailed deer, a coyote (wow, what a thrill that was!), ground squirrels (these seem to have the same suicidal tendencies as possums), mountain goats, and tonight – an elk cow and calf right beside the road. The mozzies also deserve a special mention – they are more dangerous than the bears! They are absolutely ferocious – and there are so many of them. French perfume has been replaced by insect repellent!!!

Driving on the wrong side of the road is getting better, although we are still very wary. Les is still trying to remember which side of the car the steering wheel is – he got into it this morning and then discovered there was no steering wheel!